On page 76 of the ST TNG Technical Manuel under the heading of “Impulse Engine Configuration” they say that the Main Impulse Engine (MIE) has 4 individual engines. There are 2 Saucer Module impulse engines, each with 2 individual engines. This means there are 8 individual engines. Each engine has 3 Impulse Reaction Chambers (IRC). This gives us a total of 24 IRCs. On page 77 they say “The total instantaneous output of the IRC is throttle-able from 10^8 (100,000,000) to 10^11 (100,000,000,000) megawatts.”
This means that the impulse system is easily capable of producing 2.4x10^9 (2,400,000,000) megawatts. (A megawatt is a megajoule a second)
On page 55 there’s a chart the shows the power cost of the warp drive in megajoules per cochrane. The peak transitional threshold for Warp 1 is about 2x10^4 (20000) megajoules/cochrane. Since warp 1 is 1 cochrane (1 times the speed of light) it takes about 20000 megajoules to reach warp one.
So in one second the impulse power system of the Enterprise-D can produce enough power to jump 120,000 Galaxy class starships to warp 1. In fact using the chart on page 77 you will discover that the impulse engine can easily keep the ship going continuously at warp 6 (about 1.6x10^9 megawatts once your over the “peak transitional threshold”).
Each IRC is 6 meters in diameter, so it wouldn’t be that hard to build a ship with lots of IRCs to get up to warp 7 or maybe even 8 (this might be impossible, I haven’t done the math). Of course Matter/Antimatter reactions are about 100 times more efficient then Fusion (which saves a LOT on fuel space) so that’s why ships usually use matter/antimatter.
Power is not the issue. If this goes against your view of the ST universe (or something they might have said in an episode) then feel free to ignore my comments. I just thought I should mention that according to the “Official” technical manual the Enterprise can easily reach warp six with the impulse engines.
As a justification maybe you need special matter/antimatter plasma (that only comes from the warp core) to make the warp coils work. Or maybe SF didn’t bother with the extra EPS conduits necessary to run impulse plasma to the warp coils.
As a side note there appear to be only 18 IRCs on the official Enterprise-D deck plans. Either my interpretation is wrong or somebody goofed. But a factor of 25% doesn’t change my point.
Another side note concerning power for combat systems -
On page 138 the Galaxy class shields are rated at up to 473,000 megawatts. Thus the impulse engine can easily power the shields while flying the ship at full speed.
One page 123 they say that there are 200 emitter in the upper phaser ring. We can assume that the total for the entire ship is 600 emitters (certainly more than it really has but we just need a rough number). Each emitter is rated at 5.1 megawatts. So (assuming 600 emitters) it takes 3,060 megawatts to fire every emitter on the ship.
So the impulse engines can easily power all phasers and shields and still travel at almost full thrust.
Yet another side note –
In my game I’ve upped all the phaser power costs by a factor 1000. Its thermodynamically impossible for hand phasers to make rock glow (or vaporize) at the energy levels described in the TNG Technical Manuel. If I only upped the power of the hand phasers then they would be more powerful than the shipboard phasers. So I have to up all phasers to make things consistent.
If you do the math you still find that the galaxy class can run as almost full acceleration while firing all the phasers and keeping the shields on full.
I hope I didn’t offend anybody (least of all Steve Long, who is a Freakin’ Genius! ).
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Just remember, even though it’s a vacuum,
In space no one can hear you Clean.
-J.T.
So logicaly Cochrane had 10 years to build the Phoenix, not enough time to get enough anti-matter, so he had to use Fusion Power.
To repeat: information on the Phoenixfrom reliable sources clearly indicates that the ship has a warp core -- a matter/antimatter engine.
<SNIP>
Moreover, since there is absolutely no way, technologically in the ST setting, that you could make a warp flight without a M/AM engine, he must have had one.
Steve Long[/QUOTE]
I hate to quibble... ok, not really...
I agree that the Phoenix had a warp core... however, I don't know of anything that says that a warp core HAS to be M/AM... in fact, by canon, it doesn't ie: the Romulans...
I personally find it much more likely that Phoenix was powered by some sort of clean fission pile... shielding for a fusion pile or M/AM powerplant would have weighed too much to get into orbit... and such a fission plant is closer to current technology.
In fact, since the Phoenix is clearly built from an ICBM and launched from an ICBM silo, Cochrane likley would have had at least a little weapons-grade plutonium on hand... and wouldn't have needed the manufacturing facilities to make it... whereas he would have needed extensive and cutting edge facilities to produce and store anti-matter, something that the woods/ primative setting from the movie wouldn't seem to indicate.
I know this is another argument I'm going to loose to the "Roddenberry/ Paramount fiat Mafia" ) (<- smiley makes it a joke folks)
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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain
[This message has been edited by calguard66 (edited 01-03-2001).]
Livonia, Michigan, US; Holder of the Steve Long Pink Elephant for SRM Volume 2: The Cardassian Empire Testreading
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Going by the [First Contact] novelization (ok, not canon, but Paramount still has to approve it), the [Phoenix] used the nuclear pile that had been in the missile for its reactor (fission, I think, but I'm not sure).
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It's is our last, best hope for peace? We are so screwed.
Antimatter is difficult and expensive to create regardless of the technology used. Even Starfleet has to tolerate an energy loss of anywhere from 24% (at a fueling facility designed for mass production) to 1000% (using the emergency antimatter generators aboard starships). CERN can generate a few particles of antimatter after using enough electrial power to light up a large town, but nothing on the scale of a kilogram of antimatter. Granted, Cochrane had technology that was more advanced then today's, but everything in his camp was recognizable as only slightly more advanced than what is in current use (the missile, the CD player, the guns). Cochrane also had to work around the fact that there was no huge industrial complex supporting him, like current space programs. He almost certainly did not have access to a CERN-style complex and a vast amount of electrical power.
Fisson might be able to provide enough power for the brief warp jump seen in First Contact, but not enough for an interstellar flight.
J T already went through the computations from a cannon sorce, which shows it's possiable to power the nacelles with the fusion reactors. (hats off J T, I thought I was a tech freak ) ). M/AM warp core just provides a more efficient power source, not the only one. Game wise you can not say it's impossiable. I play an engineer myself and I would love to try this some time, and really use the techno babble chart. The power ratings given in the game stats shows that you can run it from the impulse system, that 2 cannon sources, all the engineer has to figure out is how to reroute the power grid.
the pheniox had to use a warp core to achive warp flight, the proper question is what powered the warp core? m/am, quantom singularity, something else? the modern ships of starfleet were designed in colaberation with several other races over a long time. m/am for a power source for the warp core could have come from some other race, then combined with the cocherine warp core later. we dont know yet. as for technical info though you ALL are forgeting the real power source of the enterprise. in the cross section of hte enterprise it CLEARLY SHOWS that it runs of a hampster on a tread mill.
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) (<- smiley makes it a joke folks)
) ). M/AM warp core just provides a more efficient power source, not the only one. Game wise you can not say it's impossiable. I play an engineer myself and I would love to try this some time, and really use the techno babble chart. The power ratings given in the game stats shows that you can run it from the impulse system, that 2 cannon sources, all the engineer has to figure out is how to reroute the power grid.